SECO Re: New Smart Meters
 

This post is from 2023:
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...49/index5.html

It was a heads up for Villagers, and the OP was spot on in predicting that the first step would be to switch out our current meters. They have been switching them out, as far as I am aware, since early April 2023.

Does anyone know if they are doing this to start utilizing “Time of Day” billing? It’s where customers are billed higher rates during peak hours of the day, and lower rates during off-peak times.

Retired people will pay big time with time of day meters. We use most of our electric durning the daytime hours. Some people who moved to the Village will not be able to afford it much longer.

This was also done in SW Florida LCEC FT Meyers, Marco Island eliminating the need for meter readers, meters are read through electric lines similar to cable companies connecting to your modem through MAC address.
“ AMI meters provide detailed usage data and other energy-saving tools that can help members save money on their bills. For example, members can use the system to review their energy usage in near real-time, set usage threshold alerts, and choose their billing date. SECO can also use the system to remotely transfer, reconnect, disconnect, and troubleshoot service.
Members who choose not to have an AMI meter will be charged a $40 monthly fee for SECO to dispatch a technician to read the meter and inspect it on-site.“

The information they provide does not mention time of day billing.

Since SECO does not generate power they may not be affected by time of day usage patterns. On the other hand, if the electricity supplier is allowed to bill SECO by time of day then it's hard to imagine SECO would not pass those costs along to us.

Interesting note: SECO has chosen to go with AMI meters and has provided a list of advantages for the consumer. NSCUDD recently identified same set of advantages but chose to go with the less expensive AMR system instead. NSCUDD is considering a small rate decrease while SECO has just announced a significant rate increase for pole rental. Could be just a coincidence.

I am on the NSCUDD board and would not totally agree with your observation of this situation. Looks can be deceiving. It is my personal belief that AMI is the much better of the two systems and staff is looking at our situation to maybe make a change in how we will proceed. We will have to wait and see how things pan out. And, I have no knowledge of SECO board decision making.

I was at the April(?) meeting and heard your objection to the decision to go with AMR as the less expensive option. I was not at the May meeting to hear the discussion of further looking into the situation or your idea to provision Community Watch vehicles with AMR readers to implement a quasi-AMI solution.

I prefer AMI as I have stated in a previous post in another thread. I suspect that glitches are occurring with the current meters that could be detected with the AMI system. Hopefully, those glitches will disappear or at least be more easily explained with the capabilities of the new AMR meters.

My comparison with SECO was only to wonder whether the difference in cost between the two meter systems might explain the difference in rate adjustments between the two providers.

My understanding of the lowering of rates for NSU operations was because of excess accumulation of reserves because of rates increases early in that system. For the newer CSU systems, the rate increases will be reduced from the projected increases from the last rate study. Accurate/final cost figures for an AMR system have not yet been presented to the board. Many things still in flux. Again, I don't have any figures for the SECO operation.

As you may recall from the meeting when the board voted on using a AMR system, one of staffs objections for using the AMI system was the need for finding tall locations to receive signals. Apparently SECO has that resolved. And, SECO doesn't believe that having their customers login in to view data collected an issue. Again, we will wait to see if opinions change on this AMI vs AMR issue with water systems in the Villages.

Thanks for attending the NSCUDD meetings as sometimes important issues for our customers are discussed.:smiley:

In some States these meters are being used to ration electric use to avert shortages.

We just got an EV. Applied to SECO for the $7 per month credit re their off-peak charge program. Had to supply info to them to confirm we have the EV and scheduled to charge off-peak. Approved and they said a new meter will be installed. Yes - to ensure that we are complying and charging off-peak. Set to charge at 2AM.

I don't believe the meters are able to ration electric usage; at least I have not been able to find any mention of that capability.

I know that back in Md I signed up to have a device put on my heat pump that could disconnect the power to the compressor during times of peak electric usage. This was a separate device and not related to the meter at all.

Well so much for saving money. As I had the new meter put in in my electric bill jumped each month over $40 so far
I would love to know how that happens. Apparently They are just gonna charge us a lot more. There is no way that my bill should jump $40 in one month and I did no changes.

Other than the rise in temperatures, did you keep track from last months daily temps to this month’s bill. My thermostat tell me the amount of running hours from month to month. We were up 17% and bill increase was $11. Our new meter was installed yesterday so will see if we have the rate hike you experienced

What were the usage numbers on your bills for the last two months? What were the number of days in the billing cycles? What were the rates for the energy charges? Does the metering reading on your bill match the reading on the meter itself?

Temperatures have been increasing so usage might increase. If you happened to adjust your thermostat down then usage might increase.

SECO *might* have adjusted the date your meter was read when they installed the new meter. This might have caused fewer days to be counted for the last bill or more days for this bill. If this bill contains more days than the last bill then the amount charged will increase.

I haven't heard of a rate increase but I haven't received my bill for this month yet. *IF* the rate increased then that would cause the bill to increase.

There was one month when SECO read my meter wrong and my bill was too high; the next month it balanced out. With the AMI meters the readings should be more accurate but it's easy enough to go outside and read it yourself.

If all the above check out then the only way for this meter to result in a higher bill is if your old meter was counting slow or this meter is counting fast. Both of those are very, very unlikely.

With hot weather our ac is running pretty consistently so of course our cost up substantially

We had time of day billing years ago in Pennsylvania. It was not that big of a deal. We ran our pool at different hours. We just changed the timer to off peak times. We ran the dishwasher at night. I think the cheaper hours started at like 9 pm. I ran the dryer then. We saved a lot of money.